Oven for baking fuel briquettes



Dec. 25, 1934. H. F, MAUREL I OVEN FOR AKING FUEL BRTQUETTES 5 Sheets-Sheet l LL.. Incfrl Filed Dec. l2, 1932 H, F. MAUREL Dec. 25, 1934.

OVEN FOR BAKING FUEL BRIQUETTES 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Deo. l2, 1932 v Dec. 25, 1934.

H, F. MAUREL OVEN FOR BAKING FUEL BRIQUETTES Filed Deo. l2, 1932 '3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Z2-)Ny y Woxxcyd' E7 MQ Patented Dec. 25, 1934 Henry F. Maurel, Providence, R. I., assigner to Maurel Investment Corporation, Providence,

R. I., a corporation of Rhode Island yApplication December 12,1932, serialnogma'ssi j 2 claims. (C1. 2oz-117) The principal objects of this invention are to amount of free air can be drawn in under perprovide for the heat treatment of `briquettes for 'feet control through the lower seal which ordiiuel by introducing the heat into the oven in a narily is not filled with water, and to provide a distributing chamber-having means for .propornew and improved composition for a fuel bri- '..5 .tioning at will thelvolumeof gases used for lheatquette.

ing separately each strand of the conveyor within Gther objects and advantages of the invention .the oven.; to provide: means for controlling the will 'appear hereinafter. y Y

temperature of thegases used for heating by re- Reference is to be vhad to the accompanying circulation of any desired portion ofthe gases in drawings, in which addition to the regulation of ycombustion in the Fig. 1 is a side view of the loading apparatus 10 heating furnace; to provide means for exhausting for the oven in a device for makingfuel briquettes the gasesand vapors from eachstrand of the according to this invention; y

conveyor at the end opposite the intake in such Fig. 1a is a side view ofthe oven;

ra manner to avoid when desired, mixing. gases Fig. 2 is a plan of the parts shown in Fig. 1;

"1.15 of one strand with those of another; to provide Fig. 2a is a plan of :the parts shown in Fig. la; 15 an arrangement ofthe bottom strand of the n- Fig. y3 is a verticalcentral sectional view of veyor, whereby the travel of the product takes .the Oven on the line 3-30f Fig, 2a; and place in thedirection away from the heating gas Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view through offtake, tovinsure anatmosphere free of vapors the distributing chamber on the line 4--4 of .20 `and-permit the drawing .in of air .at will Afor better Fig, 3 n i l 20 -oxidization;..to.provide .-forvthe utilization of'one The invention is shown as applied to a plant fan to Serve thefdublefpurpse 0f eXhauSt and in which the raw fuel, rpreferably a mixture of .delivery of heating .gases under'pressure tothe from oven;v to provide :anfarrangem'ent of theflrst con- 1 Percent .veyor .strandrwherebyffafter entering-the oven, if Bunker fuel oi1 v 6to 9 ,25

- the Aoven isbeing. operated without a liquid enter- Bituminous coal 10 to 25 ing seal, .any air accidentally7 Idrawn in thrOugh Anthracite coal orcoke 84 to 66 the lentranceend is exhaustedthrough the oitake before the producthas'reached ignition temperar ntin the .fuel catchin fire and y Y tugsztttilrlllgsteetlmpergature control; to ogi'ov'ide for tm? mlxtflre t0 the 11921391 11.01?l @Set 0fV Scales utilizing part of vthe conveyor 'for a @001mg :and 12 m Whlch au. wie -mlxtue 1S Welgtld' They hardening zone outside the oven `proper so 'that descend by gravity luto a mixer 13 which delivers practicallythe 'entire length of this conveyor is .the PYOuCt ,1n u contmuous Seam'tO a I'Od mlll A utilized; to ,combineiiquid and .labyrinth seais 14- ThlS f0d H1111 serves the double purpose of .35 for .optionaluse .at the entrance and discharge of grinding the mgfedlen's thufughly and knead- Athe oven, which seals can be filled with'water mg the Samen The lloduct 111 the fOrm A0f a .at amoments'noce `to prevent the entrance of shapeless mass is delivered through 'the outlet oxygen and. furtherfcornbustionof the materials 0f the rod mill 170 a COIlLyeyOlvl Which, through l`,4:0 in the Oven S0 hat ms Wube prevented; 'to a discharge chute 17 delivers it to another con-I 40 I provide means 'whereby the temperature can be VeYOf 18- -COHVBYO'If 'QBIVGYS the mXtuIe by controlled accurately Vin all parts' of the oven `and grav-u yto a vetiquette imi'Xmg hopper 19 Off a bri- .'thef temperature of tliegasesfthemselves inthe quet'mg mahirle 20 Which' forms the briduettes oven .is controlledhy regulatngia Series of in- 'and delivers them 130 a Oadlng mechanism 21 @45. takes opening outaofzthe distributing chamber which deposits them on the oven conveyor 22.( :in-any desired proportion;` to providean arrange- The CUIWSyOr .22 receives. the preformed bri- `ment in which-.the offtakesfor the gases are 'Culottes on theft-op of the loading strand and `loca'tedin such away that the travel of the gases takes JChem dOWIl through a' Seal 23` andV directly and the volume desired through each individual upwardly t0 the *20p Of the Oven 24:.` This seal is .50 strand is positive; to provideforximmediateiy of ysuch formcthat liquid can be Supplied'to 111.50 exhausting the comparatively cold vapors Ageneror removed and it will still constitute a labyrinth J ated aroundV the first and second strands to cause seal but ordinarily7 liquid is used in it. rThe conthe bottomstrand of the conveyor to travel away veyor '22 .passes across the top of the oven and from: the oitakeifor 'heating' gases so that, by then gradually and v:progressively downwardly operating. the .damper inthe oitake, any desired over and around a .seriesoi horizontal partitions is delivered from any desired source to? the lower end of a conveyorj 10. This conveyor delivers 3o in this chamber. -42 which draws the gases, etc. from the oven Vthrough this pipe and delivers them through a. Connected 25. These partitions divide the oven into horizontal compartments and each partition extends to one end of the oven and is spaced from the other end. Along each compartment passes a strand of the conveyor.

Finally the conveyor 22 passes out of the oven at the bottom through a preliminary seal 26 and a seal 27. The seal 27 ordinarily serves as a labyrinth seal but can be suppliedwithwater instantaneously to prevent the entrance of air and oxygen and smother any fire that may occur in the oven. This seal 27 is provided with a partition 28 extending below the water level to keep out the air. The conveyor passes upwardly from this seal a considerable distance and constitutes an external means for cooling the briquettes. Then it passes to the discharge point 29 where the product is discharged into the conveyor or chute 30 and delivered from the machine. `In this way practically all of the conveyor 22 is utilized for one purpose or another. There are few idle buckets on the conveyor as they are all used either for heating or cooling with the exception of two or three between the discharge point and the loading point.

The oven is heated by lmeans of a furnace 31 from which extends a pipe 32 for hot flue gases.

vThis pipe or conduit extends into an internal distributing chamber 33 in the oven and delivers the heated gases and products of combustion directly thereto. This distributing chamberis provided with independently controlled dampers 34 and 35 andk l36 for outlets in the spaces below the upper strand of lthe conveyor above the second strand and below the third strand to control at will the volume of gases delivered to each individual strand of the conveyor 22 independently of each other. This arrangement makes it possible to control accurately the ternperature in all parts of the oven. What is called the Master temperature?, or the temperature of the gases themselves, is controlled in the furnace 31 in a manner that will be described and the proportion of the heat delivered to the upper and lower and intermediate'strands of the conveyor 32 is controlled by-the dampers 34, 35 and 36 which are manipulated from outside. The heated gases pass above the three highest horizontal partitions or floors 25 along the chain conveyor to the opposite end of the oven. There they are received in offtakes or conduits 37 which have dampers 38 and pass out of the oven into a chamber 39. These offtakes 37 are located at the end of the oven opposite the distributing chamber 33. The gases therefore'travel straight throughthe oven but are not recirculated but the proportion of heated gases in the different horizontal compartments can be regulated by the several dampers.

' In the chamber 39 is a vertical partition 40 and the gases have to pass up over it and out at the bottom through a pipe 41, thus allowing some solid parts of the products of combustion or condensation from products of distillation to settle The pipe 41 extends to a fan pipe or conduit 43 tothe furnace. with this conduit 43 is an offset pipe 44 controlled by a damper which delivers any desired proportion of these gases into the stack 45, Where they are distributed into the air. The rest are recirculated through the furnace 31. This provides an important regulating means. 4

two kinds of coal.

y, gradually downward over kthe conveyor is located in industry that sooner or vately exhausted at the ends of these compart- This `lower strand is This apparatus s designed for general purposes but is particularly suitable for producing briquettes of a mixture o f anthracite coal or coke and bituminous coal. At least two thirds of the mixture by weight is anthracite coal or coke. The rest is made up of bituminous coal and bunker fuel oil of which the bituminous coal is of from two to three times the weight of the bunker fuel oil. Other binders can be u sed but I find this one to be particularly suitable for the mixture of the With this mixture the baking temperature is kept at a point not over 700 Fahrenheit preferably.

The conveyor is shown as of the pivoted basket 4type and the loading, as well as the discharging point, is outside the oven. 'I'he conveyor enters the oven proper through a liquid seal and rises immediately to the top, traveling back and forth and under a plurality of the horizontal partitions. Thus each strand of a separate compartment. The conveyor finally passes out of the oven through another seal which is in the form of a liquid seal but which ordinarily is not filled with liquid. In other words in ordinary use it acts as a labyrinth seal.

The direction of travel of the conveyor, it will be noticed, is completely reversed as compared to my previous Patents 1,870,521, 1,870,523 and British 325,869, accepted March, 1930. The discharge point is located so near the loading point that no material part of the conveyor is wasted. All parts of it are used for some purpose in producing the product. The part of the conveyor extending from the discharge seal to the discharge point is employed for cooling the product in the 8.11'.r

It has been the experience in the briquetting later ovens are destroyed by fire when, due to mechanical failure during operation, the product catches nre. Under the 'preferred practice of this invention the entering seal only is lled with water andthe outgoing seal is empty. The latter can be filled with Water at a moments notice, thereby sealing the oven tight so that no air can get in. In this way the product cannot catch re, or, if it does, the temperature remains stationary for a while and gradually drops Without causing damage and without allowing the` briquettes to burn. Of course, labyrinth seals can be used in place of the water seals without this latter advantage.

One of the most important features of the invention is the distributing chamber located within the oven and having independently con-` trolled'dampers or outlets to control at will the volume of gases delivered to each individual strandof the conveyor independently. The olftakes being located at the opposite end from the distributing chamber, the travel of the gases in the volume desired through each individual compartment in which a strand is located is positive. Likewise the comparatively cold vapors generated about the first and second strands are immediments in which the strands are located. Therea fore they are not permitted either to knock down the temperature or contaminate the oxidizing chamber around the lower strand. The conveyor Ain the bottom strand travels away from its oiltaker so that, by operating the damper in this oiftake, any desiredamount of free air can be drawn in under perfect control through the lower seal which ordinarily is not filled with water as stated. A a preliminary cooling zone. l`-

Incidentally this arrangement makes it possible to control accurately the temperatures Arequired within the oven and to keep the baking temperature below 700 Fahrenheit. What is called the Master temperature, or the temperature of the gases themselves, is controlled in the furnace by regulating combustion and in addition by the simple expedient of recirculating through the furnace any desired portion of the waste gases discharged from the oven by the exhaust fan. Any desired amount of surplus can be diverted out through the stack.

It will also be noted that the gases are delivered at any required temperature under forced draft into the distributing pressure chamber 33 and from this chamber distributed in any desired direction to each of the upper strands of the conveyor separately. One fan is used to serve the double purpose of exhausting from the oven and delivering gases under pressure to the oven. The provision of the intake for the first or upper conveyor strand at its end insures that if the oven is being operated under a liquid entering seal, any air accidentally running into the seal is exhausted before the product has reached ignition temperatures. This prevents the product catch ing fire and upsetting the temperature of the coal.

Although I have illustrated and described only one form of the invention I am aware of the fact that modifications can be made therein by any person skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as expressed in the claims. Therefore I do not wish to be limited in this respect otherwise than as set forth in the claims but what I do claim is:

1. In an oven for baking fuel briquettes, the combination with the oven proper, of a heat distributing chamber located near the intake end of the oven but spaced from the walls thereof, an

endless conveyor for moving the briquettes through the oven, means for guiding said conveyor to move from the entrance thereof directly upwardly to the top of the oven over said chamber and then horizontally back and forth downwardly in the oven, the upwardly extending strand of the conveyor at the intake end being located between said chamber and the adjacent end wall of the oven, and a series of horizontal partitions alternately extending from a point at one end to a point at a distance from the other end of the oven and each located between two adjacent strands of the conveyor.

2. In an oven for baking fuel briquettes, the

combination with the oven proper, of a heat distributing chamber located near the intake end of the oven but spaced from the walls thereof, an endless conveyor for moving the briquettes through the oven, means for guiding said conveyor to move from the entrance thereof directly upwardly and then horizontally back and forth downwardly in the oven, the upwardly extending strand of the conveyor at the intake end being located between said chamber and the end wall of the oven, a series of horizontal partitions alternately extending from a point at one end to a point at a distance from the other end of the oven and each located between two adjacent strands of the conveyor, valved outlets from said chamber for delivering heated products of combustion to the different strands of the conveyor, and outlets from the oven at the other end for the different strands of the conveyor to insure that the heated products will pass along a strand of the conveyor from one end of the oven to the other and then directly out of the oven so that they will not mix with the heated gases surrounding the other strands of the conveyor.

HENRY F. MAUREL. 

